ABOUT thirty minutes drive from Islamabad, on the Grand Trunk Road, is the small, serene town of Wah. Lush farms and hillocks with rich vegetation surround the town as many freshwater streams flow through the place.
Wah means ‘beautiful’, a name coined by Emperor Akbar who visited the place around sixteenth century, while on his annual detour to the valley of Kashmir (Kabul according to some sources). He was so impressed with the place that he ordered one of his ministers, Raja Maan Singh, to construct a garden on the pattern of Shalamar Gardens in Lahore and Srinagar.
Raja Maan Singh constructed a beautiful fresh water pond full of fish surrounded by typical pavilions of Mughal architecture. Emperor Jehangir in his memoirs wrote about abundant fish in the pond that he was able to catch with a net and later released them all after placing a pearl in their mouth.
After Akbar, Wah Garden became a must stopover for all the emperors travelling from Delhi to Kashmir or Kabul. The gardens were almost destroyed during Durrani and Sikh regimes. Later British handed over the estate to Nawab Hyat Khan in 1865 in return for the ‘services’ rendered by the Hyat family during the War of Independence. In 1976, the still influential Hyat family hosted a dinner for the then Prime Minister Z.A. Bhutto at the Wah gardens.
Mr Bhutto was dismayed to see a historical site in such dilapidated condition. Subsequently he ordered the Department of Archeology to take over the gardens that still manage the place.
The gardens are satisfactorily maintained although there is a need for further improvement. The fountains should be made operative again and the pavilions need restoration. There are two graves dating by to 1860’s near the entrance, both belong to Hyat family. A little development of the site can attract thousands of tourists.
I still remember from my good old days as a young cadet at Cadet College Hasanabdal, the annual spring trekking to Wah gardens through green fields, Loqat orchids and streams. The boys used to spend the whole day at the gardens and return to the college in the evening with plastic bags full of small fish. The catch was usually placed in home made aquariums i.e. glass jars on the mantelpieces in the dormitories. The perennial unilateral animosity of the orchid owners towards cadets for trespassing and some unauthorized fruit plucking was not very acceptable. After all the orchid owners must have realized that the site of juicy ‘loqats’ hanging from the trees is too difficult a view to resist. I hope those annual treks are still held.
A few kilometres down the road from the gardens is the village of Wah. There is an almost century old overbearing building in the center of the village that on first site appears to be a church with Roman architecture. The building is huge with splendid verandahs, terraces and a tower like structure over looking the whole village. This building is actually a private property belonging to the Hyat family. Locals give varying accounts regarding its history referring to it as a one-time jail or the residence of the Nawab. There are a few other equally beautiful, private buildings that also belong to the Hyat family.
It is interesting to note that it was a Hyat who carried General Nicholson back to English camp after he was mortally wounded in the War of Independence. The estate of Wah was awarded to Hyat family for their loyalty to the English Government. It was again a Hyat — Sardar Sikandar Hyat — who led the Unionist party of Punjab and were pro-Congress till they saw the eminent emergence of Pakistan, contrary to their wishes. One of the sons of the family, Sardar Saukat Hyat later became a friend of Quaid-i-Azam and contributed positively to the development of nascent Pakistan.
ABOUT thirty minutes drive from Islamabad, on the Grand Trunk Road, is the small, serene town of Wah. Lush farms and hillocks with rich vegetation surround the town as many freshwater streams flow through the place.
